Danny Clinch collaborated again with the team at Yard, this time to shoot The Roots  at New York Republic Airport for the John Varvatos’ Fall / Winter 2011 Ad campaign.

The accompanying video, shot in one take and also directed by Danny Clinch, depicts the band as they perform an exclusive track for the campaign.

We caught up with Danny for a few words about working on the campaign:

 Working with John is always great – he’s a true lover of music and is really knowledgeable about music as well as the history of music photography.

Stephen Niedzwiecki at Yard is an amazing creative director and always has lots of ideas to toss around within the context of classic photography.

We work as a team to come to a conclusion on what imagery resonates with the artist we are shooting.  Stephen came up with the plane idea – specifically inspired by imagery of The Beatles and Led Zeppelin coming off their planes.  We decided to make it contemporary – modernize the visual as well as the concept.

I’ve worked with The Roots for years, since the beginning of their underground popularity.  My first assignment with them had me riding on their tour bus.  They are one of the pioneers of live music and hip hop.  These guys have carved their own path – especially in terms of the quality of their musicianship.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/26013971]

The video has popped up all over – from WWD, The GQ Eye Blog, The Source, and Hypebeast.

You can see the line at johnvarvatos.com and more work from Danny Clinch on the Levine/Leavitt site.